To Fall Like Lightning
by Achariyth1
Summary: An ongoing collection of tales from the Clockwork Devils saga. Mokou comes face to face with the responsibilities of her past.


**To Fall Like Lightning**

Tales from the Clockwork Devils

A Touhou Project fanfic written by Achariyth

Disclaimer: Touhou Project belongs to ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice.

_This collection of stories is a sequel to "Look to the Eastern Sky" and assumes some familiarity with that work, "In Visible Light", and "Nightfall"._

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Black Flag**

Mokou Fujiwara hated it when her body revolted against her; being immortal, she could just get another. Long ago, her father had drilled into her that the body should always serve the mind. To have that natural order overturned reminded her of the procession of weak and pampered princesses that attended her father's bedroom. Of Kaguya Houraisan, whose refusal to be any man's mistress drove her father to abandon Mokou and her mother in his pursuit of the unearthly beauty.

Despite her shame, the phoenix girl had to admit that the light breeze and warm sunlight felt good against her skin. Keine had told her once that this craving meant her body needed Vitamin D. At least she could gather sunlight in private. An earlier craving for pickles and ice cream had ushered in an avalanche of embarrassing questions. Mokou had never been pregnant, but the rumors persisted. Other cravings had been just as embarrassing. Reisen and Keine could tell her what each craving meant, but all Mokou cared about was staving off the fierce pain that accompanied each. Compared to those, a migraine would be a welcome relief.

The pale-tressed immortal rolled onto her stomach. As the dewy grass tickled her legs and belly, Mokou gathered her long hair and pulled it over her shoulder. Sighing as the sun warmed her bare back, Mokou laughed to herself. Her mother would have been horrified to see her daughter laying naked in a sunlit field, as would Keine.

They didn't know what they were missing. A simple pleasure, even for one who avoided such lest they make her soft and vulnerable. Lately, there were precious few chances to take pleasure in anything.

Three weeks earlier, an armored figure known only as the Blue Djinn attacked the Hakurei Barrier. During that incident, many sacrificed themselves to drive away the Djinn, including Reimu, Marisa, Yukari, and even Mokou, multiple times. But as he vanished, the Hakurei Barrier and many of the certainties of life in Gensokyo disappeared in his wake.

Mokou had done her best to help the village and the various groups trying to create some semblance of peace from the fear and chaos. Unfortunately, the average _youkai_ or human shot first when scared. Danmaku _stung_. Worse, certain _youkai_ had to be reminded forcibly that, although Reimu was gone, the spell card rules were still in effect. During the full moon, one sword _youkai_ had even slipped a lucky shot past Mokou's defenses.

History quickly forgot the sword _youkai_; Keine took her duties as the village protector seriously.

Even when _youkai_ didn't need attitude adjustments, there was plenty of work to be done. New defenses, new homes for the dozens of outsiders trapped inside the new Yasaka-Kochiya Barrier, new crops. It seemed like any time Mokou stopped to eat, a new problem raised its head. So she stopped eating, at least until Keine started ramming rice balls into her mouth. The cravings wracked her soon after.

Mokou tried working through them. There was more work than hands, and unlike others, all Mokou had lost during the Fall of the Hakurei Barrier was a replicable body or two. Ran's haunting cries still sent shivers down the phoenix girl's spine. But Keine would have none of it; to her, a sleepy worker was worse than none at all. After a morning where Mokou had hammered her hand more than nails, she had seen the schoolteacher's wisdom. Yet even then, she only took breaks at hornpoint.

A twig snapped. Mokou opened her eyes. Hopefully, it was just Keine making sure that she actually rested. With her luck, though, it'd be some sudden suitor intent on pressing more than a courtship against her. The immortal slipped her arms into her nearby dress shirt and buttoned up the front.

"A lady should not be found like this," a calm female voice called out.

"No one's considered me a lady in a long time," Mokou said, breathing a sigh of relief. She slipped her legs into her pants. "And what I do is none of your business."

"You are still a Lady, are you not?" a ghost in a green dress said. She floated towards the phoenix girl as though she knelt on the top of a cloud. A young woman followed her, clad in Imperial court regalia that had been considered old-fashioned back when Mokou still clung to her mother's skirts.

"Who are you?" Mokou said. Her eyes narrowed as she slipped her hand into her back pocket. The stiff parchment of a spell card felt reassuring to her touch.

The ghost settled in front of Mokou. Somehow, even without legs, she managed a credible courtesy. "I was, I am, Lady Tojiko of the Soga Clan. Behind me is Lady Futo of the Mononobe."

"Lady Futsuhime?" Mokou said, blinking. Her father had told her stories of Futsuhime and Tojiko Iratsume, but she had been more concerned with running through the gardens than learning to be a princess of the Fujiwara.

"No," Futo said, glowering at the pale ghost. "I am not Lady Tojiko's mother."

"I wouldn't claim you if you were," Tojiko said, shaking her head.

Mokou slipped her red suspenders over her shoulders. "Nice to meet you, I guess. If you don't mind, I have work to do."

"We need your help."

"Get in line. There's a schoolteacher that asked for it first."

"We have ties to your family. You have responsibilities to us," Futo said, frowning.

"Do you know how many people ask me for favors because of my family?" Mokou said. The phoenix girl leaned back, looking up at the sky before closing her eyes. "I only help my friends."

"Our enemies surround us; our champions are scattered," Tojiko said, floating above the immortal.

"Welcome to an average day in Gensokyo. Try not to upset the shrinemaidens." With a yawn, the immortal rested her head in the crook of an arm.

"My family swore fealty to you. I _personally_ swore allegiance to your grandfather." Rose entered the ghost's cheeks.

"Get him to help," Mokou snapped, sitting upright. "What do you expect me to do?"

"The Fujiwara name still carries prestige above all but the Emperor's. You're the Founder's granddaughter. You alone can call on the might of the nine houses. As a member of Clan Soga, bound to Clan Fujiwara by oaths and blood, I call upon my liege lady for the right of protection," Tojiko snapped as she clenched her fists.

"The Emperor swept aside all titles and oaths."

"Yet you still keep yours," Futo pointed out.

"The Konoe owed me a favor," Mokou said with a shrug. In the final days of World War Two, the Konoe _sept_ needed protection against what was seen as a certain military coup. In return, they used their connections to the Emperor to quietly restore Mokou's title. Among the sources of the immortal's pride was that she still retained her title while Kaguya had been, until recently, stripped of hers.

"Very well, let me renew mine. I, Lady Tojiko of Clan Soga, do swear fealty to Duchess Mokou Fujiwara on behalf of all my retainers and vassals..." The ghost bowed low, prostrating herself against the ground as she repeated the ancient oath of allegiance that she had first given over 1500 years earlier.

* * *

In the Human Village, Reisen leaned against the brick wall of her medical clinic. She pulled out a thin metal case, flicking it open with her thumb. Staring at the neatly trimmed orange sticks inside, she slid down the wall until she sat on the packed earth.

"You going to stare at those all day?" a weary voice chattered. Yukimi Inaba, a snowy-haired nurse, pressed herself against the bricks. Her hand shook as she reached for Reisen's case.

Reisen turned her head. "The anticipation heightens the flavor." She slid a single stick into the earth rabbit's trembling hands. She popped a second into her mouth. The lunar hare sighed blissfully. Tewi's special blend always calmed her down.

"Do your patients know about your carrot habit?"

"Please, I can quit at any time," the doctor said, pocketing her case. "Sorry, I don't have anything strong enough to work on a human."

Keine knelt down next to the two rabbits. "You look like you need it more. Rough day?"

Yukimi nodded as she gnawed the honeyed carrot stick. "Three more today."

Reisen sighed as Keine stared quizzically at her. "We're having a problem with people eating bad mushrooms. It's almost epidemic. At least we've got how to use a stomach pump down."

"Meat. The last one was full of meat," Yukimi whispered, shuddering.

Keine thought for a moment, her fingers trailing through the air as though tracing unseen letters. "We haven't had a problem with mushroom poisoning for eight years. Do you think-?" Even weeks after his departure, the Blue Djinn still hung over Gensokyo like a cloud.

"It's a little early to be seeing a conspiracy under every corner," Reisen said between bites of her spiced carrot.

"Humor me," Keine said, watching as Yukimi's shaking stopped.

Reisen rolled her eyes. "My guess is that the mushroom poisonings first stopped when Marisa started to learn magic. She uses some pretty potent and rare ingredients, after all. Now that she's gone, no one's harvesting those mushrooms, so they're coming back onto the dinner plate."

Keine's brow furled as she consulted something beyond Reisen's sight. "You might be onto something."

"Just Teach your students to leave mushrooms alone if they don't recognize the type," Reisen said. "If you'd excuse me, though, I'd rather talk about something else besides work. That last patient was touch and go."

"And he had a belly full of meat," Yukimi said. The white rabbit's shuddering started over. Reisen shook her head as she handed over her carrot case. The nurse bobbled the tin before slipping another carrot stick into her mouth.

"If it's that bad, I could take the memories away," Keine offered.

"Do you know how much I've just learned? Yukimi said, collapsing next to Reisen. "No way."

"Suit yourself," Keine said. She stared down the road. "What's that?"

"I just hope that it's not another patient," Reisen said, resting her hand against her forehead.

"Think weirder," Keine said as she stood.

"I can't tell you how reassured I am," Yukimi deadpanned, shaking her head as Reisen pulled her to her feet.

The trio watched as a zombie covered in paper charms walked down the road. She lofted a tall pole high into the air. A thin rope spun around her, hanging from a bundled sack at the tip of the pole. Behind the zombie, silver bells rang out whenever a blue-haired beauty in a white dress stepped or swayed down the road.

Lady Seiga Kaku grinned and held her hands in the air as she approached. "I bring glad tidings of a different good news today." In front of the anchoress, Yoshika Miyako let the butt of the banner pole in her hands thump against the ground.

"My princess already gave at the temple," Reisen said, placing her hand on Yukimi's shoulder. She nodded towards the clinic. "Let's go."

"That's fine," Seiga said. She dismissed the rabbits with a wave of her hand. "We humans should look to our own strength to save us in these times."

"The village already has protectors," Keine snapped, shaking a finger in front of the anchoress.

"Indeed. My liege lady is one. And, as she has taken our enemies for her own, so shall we take her duties as ours," Seiga proclaimed with open arms. Around her, a small crowd began to grow. Gensokyo always enjoyed a touch of street theater.

"Toyosatomimi does not reign here."

"We both serve another now," Seiga said.

Reisen froze in the doorway, still holding Yukimi's shoulder. "Wait," she whispered to the earth rabbit. The lunar hare cocked a long white ear towards the growing throng.

The anchoress grabbed a hold of the lanyard and pulled. "You might have met her already." The banner fell from its sack, and a white wisteria flower set against a black background flew free.

"That's the Fujiwara crest," Keine said, recoiling from the waving cloth.

Yoshika lobbed a ball into the air. It burst in a shower of sparks, and all throughout the Human Village, cloth bearing the Fujiwara crest unfurled from windows and rooftops. Pairs of soldiers in black and white livery appeared on the streets. Passersby shied away from the men-at-arms, but the soldiers patrolled the streets in silence. The crowd around Seiga scattered, although the soldiers made no move to clear the streets.

"Mokou wouldn't want this," Keine hissed, clenching her fists.

"Sometimes, a loyal retainer has to help her liege lady make a decision," Seiga said, laughing.

"Get inside," Reisen whispered to Yukimi as she pushed the smaller rabbit inside the clinic. The slammed door cut off the rest of Keine's protests. A minute later, lost among the black flags, a single carrier pigeon flew out of the clinic. No one noticed as it flew towards its home at Eternity Manor except for a Watcher clad in blue.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This collection will feature Mokou and Alice's stories. Events here will affect the other stories, but Nightfall and In Visible Light represent the main subplots of the Clockwork Devils.


End file.
